According to the 2011 XpertHR survey it shows that the continuing economic uncertainty and budgetary difficulties experienced by most employers have produced inevitable pressure on HR budgets”, said Rachel Suff, author of the report. “Recruitment represents one of the most significant areas of HR expenditure for most employers and so it also represents a HR activity that is ripe for cost-cutting.”
The survey found that the most widely targeted action to reduce recruitment costs amongst employers was in third party suppliers, which was addressed by 83.7% of employers.
The second most widely cut activity was recruitment advertising, with 79.1% of respondents identifying it as an area in which they had reduced their expenditure.
When asked about the overall outcome of their actions 61.2% employers said that their organisation’s efforts in reducing the costs of recruitment were “fairly successful”, with 20.9% saying they were “very successful”.
Respondents were asked about future recruitment cost control predictions. Two out of three (66.2%) said that their organisation would look to reduce the cost of recruitment within the next 12 months, while a further one in 10 (9.6%) said that their organisation would look to reduce recruitment costs, but not within the next 12 months.
